Today we’d like to introduce you to Liliana Cornejo-Valenzuela.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Liliana. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
For my 15th birthday, I asked for a “professional camera”, one with all the buttons and different lens and a big camera bag. It was the most expensive thing my parents had ever bought me so that was it for me for the next 5 Christmas’s and birthdays! I would carry my camera around everywhere just capturing moments and then, I realized my pictures didn’t really look how I wanted them, yeah, the quality was nice but they looked plain to me. I wasn’t sure how I could make them look like the ones from the magazines. I took a photography class once I started college, sad to say, I didn’t really know how to use my camera still. I shoved it in the closet for years and then one day, 4 years later, I found a really cool photo on Instagram, and the girl who took it went to the same university as I did. I got excited and obsessed over her photos and to think she was just like me was even more motivated to learn, the colors and the depth of fields, the angles, all of it, I loved it, her photos were amazing to me. I had no idea how I could take cool pictures like that.
So, I searched on YouTube, how to use my camera, ever since then, I search for everything, I taught myself slowly the basics of how my camera worked. I would ask people for help, some did and some didn’t but that’s okay! Then the worst thing that could’ve happened to me once I finally got the hang of it, my camera got water damage from a leak in my apartment. I was so sad, but then I realized credit cards existed! So, I upgraded my camera and a fancy new lens. Once I had this new and improved camera, I would take portraits of anyone who would let me. I’m still learning from every shoot I do. At the time, I didn’t really have a certain style that I liked to shoot until later after, I felt more confident and got the hang of how to shoot manual. I realized what the lighting and time of day, I prefer to shoot and the locations I liked. I slowly developed my own taste in portraits and would ask people that I thought would fit the look I was going for. But I’m still striving to be better!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My photography journey has not been a smooth one, I struggled a lot in the beginning because I didn’t know how my camera worked exactly, and I am a very shy person, so getting out there to ask someone to model for me was hard. Once I had someone to agree with me that they would model, I had to try not to be awkward and shy still so that they could be comfortable.
My advice to women is to empower each other, inspire one another and to lift each other up. Not everyone woke up one morning being good at what they do, everyone’s struggled at one point and it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to get rejected, it’ll make you stronger. But never give up!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
As of right now, I do style shoots where I try my best to bring California to Texas. I live for anything old school the Chicano culture. I like my photos to be dark toned and serious. I feel like the clothes, the location, and the model all bring the look together in a shoot.
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
I was born in North Hollywood California but raised in Dallas Texas since I was 6 years old. My family moved out of Los Angeles when I was young, but I still remember small things from my child while in California and I cherish those memories and I’ll never lose my love for California. I’m really into the Chicano culture, grunge, street and anything old school. Living in Dallas, I felt it really difficult for me to portray my style in the environment I’m in but I do my best to bring California to Texas by the location, the model, and the outfits. I have an old soul and I hope and feel that people can get that from my photos, having a way to express myself through photography is so fun and I love it.
Contact Info:
- Email: lilianacornejophotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_lilianashoots
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilianacornejophotography
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lilianashoots
Image Credit:
Liliana Cornejo-Valenzuela, Elva Chavez, Jeci Sandoval, Ofelia Rodriguez, Tre Marceli, Stephanie Saenz
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